When does it pick up there in the UK? This year stores had stuff out before Halloween in Canada. Any radio stations start playing Christmas music 24/7 over there? Here the ones that do start on or about Dec 1 for that.

Are the LED lights getting popular over there yet? Here they have really dropped in price so lots of people are starting to use them. You cannot go wrong, LEDs use so little electricity comparied to regular lights.

donoreo wrote:Are the LED lights getting popular over there yet? Here they have really dropped in price so lots of people are starting to use them. You cannot go wrong, LEDs use so little electricity comparied to regular lights.

They use even less electricity after a visit from Mr Wirecutter

But the garden centre ones look like they're incandescent bulbs, sucking the juice from the national grid that should be used to power my computer

Yeah, why suck all the power for lights when it could power your computer. Only one? Hell, I have 6 running at home right now (at least one on suspend) - 1 Mac, 1 Windows tower, 1 Windows laptop (both for wife), 2 Linux towers and 1 Linux laptop. I guess I may use some power

Anyway, I like the LED lights. This year they have some clear ones that they are calling "warm white" since one complaint people had was the the "white" ones looked blueish. I think my wife wants to get some of these this year.

Past few years most UK supermarkets have taken to selling Christmas goods from the 25/09, after all it is the holiday Season and we all know seasons last for 3 months. I didn't notice the exact start this year, but last year it was bang on September 25.

BTW, the LED lights sound a bit too reliable for me. Christmas isn't the same if you don't spend atleast 5 hours diagnosing a string of Christmas lights which worked fine last year (I wonder why I like Linux).

Decorating the outside of houses with giga-watts of lighting has become very popular where I live - over the past few years.

donoreo wrote: Only one? Hell, I have 6 running at home right now (at least one on suspend) - 1 Mac, 1 Windows tower, 1 Windows laptop (both for wife), 2 Linux towers and 1 Linux laptop. I guess I may use some power

At the time of writing there was only one running. Having got rid of some machines recently, I am down to three desktops and two laptops. I rarely use more than 2 at a time though.

If you want to include VMWare virtual machines, then I have another 10, oh and 4 more under Parallels

Seemingly Cardiff has avoided jumping on the bandwagon that makes you go nuts. I haven't seen Christmas mentioned once on Queens Street yet. It's strange because usually in Wales we never stop Christmas and just go on all year round.

Since about 2003 we no longer have those cheesy xmas tunes playing in the shops......and strangely, I miss them. Its synonymous with Chirstmas, Christ, Mary, Inn Keeper, three wise men and Slade!
Its just not the same, doing crimbo shopping with a little Girls Aloud Playing in the background.

Who am I kidding, of course I haven't started xmas shopping, its no the 24th December yet, but if I had, I'd find it a more crappy experience.

Mall of America officially brought in Santa today and the Macy's in downtown St Paul has officially launched their Christmas "Joy of Excess". So at least in the state of Minnesota, the Christmas season started today.

Thanks be to God that I shop exclusively online. There's only one thing I hate worse than crowds: it's crowds of grumpy, rude people. Seriously, when was the last time you talked to a NICE person during the holiday season? Even Santa carries a switch these days.